Yo-Yo Ma amazes with new discoveries in Bach program

May 23, 2001|By John von Rhein, Tribune music critic.

The 250th anniversary of J.S. Bach's death may have come and gone, but the celebration of his musical genius is everlasting. It seemed fitting that the season's final Symphony Center Presents event should have been an all-Bach program performed by Yo-Yo Ma, a hardy perennial in his own right.

The superstar cellist packed Symphony Center three years ago for a pair of recitals in which he presented all six of Bach's unaccompanied cello suites, a feat only a virtuoso in his league could undertake. But with the entire music world paying homage to the cantor of Leipzig last year, the cellist understandably wished to explore this repertory anew.

And so, Monday night at Orchestra Hall the cellist played three of the Bach suites--No. 1 in G (BWV 1007), No. 5 in C minor (BWV 1011) and No. 6 in D (BWV 1012). Ma's reputation once again guaranteed a full house, and stage seats had to be brought in. Even knowing he will open the CSO's Ravinia season and the fall subscription series, Chicago simply cannot hear enough of him.

Was one surprised that Ma's performances were even more eloquent, spirited and generous than before? No. After all, he has lived with these masterpieces his entire career, etching them into his mind and soul. What was surprising was how flexible, imaginative and romantic his Bach playing has become since he first recorded the suites more than 15 years ago.

Ma's engagement with this music is more deeply personal than ever, with a more highly developed sense of fantasy. Not only is there a wider variety of tempo, nuance and articulation but dance movements reveal subtleties of rhythm and accent that seem to reflect the influence of "period" performance. Stately sarabandes and courtly allemandes are touched with melancholy, courantes and gigues dappled with delight.

No solo artist can make an audience listen so intently as Ma. At times scaling his dynamics down to a bare whisper, his bow brushing the strings in a delicate flight of melody, the cellist reduced the auditorium to a rapt hush. At such a level of quietude, stray coughs registered like rifle shots. Never has his burnt-umber cello tone sounded so rich or mellow in this acoustically problematic hall--one must credit the stripped-down stage shell for the improvement.

Every listener had his favorite moments. Mine came in the preludes, those marvelous introductions that give free rein to a performer's creative fancy. Here was Ma conversing with Bach, his music and the listener, utterly free and natural in his inflections. The sense of grave, unhurried contemplation he brought to the three sarabandes was likewise special.

Moving from the ineffable tragedy of the Cminor Suite (complete with darkened house lights) to the courtly radiance of the D Major, Ma made his cello seem the most soulful of instruments, the one most capable of divine utterance. An unforgettable evening of Bach.